Operating Definitions and Guidelines for Writing - Methods of Development
Description

1. What is description?

The method of development in which the writer uses facts and senses to support the point.

Description exhibits these essential features.

  • Uses word pictures to paint one dominant impression of a person, place, or thing which does not change
  • Features objective information -- factual statements about the real qualities of the subject answering the questions, who, what, when, where, and why
  • Features subjective information -- statements about the writer's impression of the subject in language rich in modifiers, figures of speech, and in appeals to the senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell
  • Uses space order transition in some logical progression to organize the information

2. Why do writers use description?

a. To please
b. To inform
c. To promote a dominant impression
d. To support the other methods of development or reinforce the main point.

3. How can readers and writers recognize description when they see it?

a. Look for a dominant impression.
b. Notice whether the subject is static.

If these items dominate, it is probably description.

4. How does one write description?

a. Figure out a purpose for writing.

b. Determine who the audience is.

    • Who needs this information?
    • What does s/he know?
    • What does the reader want or need to know that s/he can learn from a description of the subject?

c. Observe the subject firsthand and record all observations answering both factual questions and sensory questions.

d. Discern the dominant impression that the observations lead to and state it in the thesis.

e. Organize the information using transitions that indicate space and follow a logical progression: go from left to right, top to bottom, interior to exterior, smallest to largest, front to the back.

f. Use specific nouns and strong verbs.

5. Thesis pattern: A look at {SUBJECT} shows that it is {DOMINANT IMPRESSION}.

6. How can one practice recognizing description?
In outside reading (not English or reading textbooks),

  • look for examples of paragraphs or essays whose main concern is something static, an object that or person who does not change.
  • Verify that the sentences and paragraphs focus only on how the subject looks, tastes, feels, smells, and sounds and tells who, what, where, when, and why about it, and no more.
  • Confirm that the information uses space order transitions for organization.
  • Detect the dominant impression of the subject to which the information leads.

An Example and Outline for Description Writing
Think about the person, object or place whose description proves most interesting or instructive to other people if assigned a description essay. Using the steps above, decide on the dominant impression – when an individual beholds that person, object or place, what one idea shapes his or her perceptions? Reinforce the point fully by including the descriptive detail -- the facts (5ws) and the senses (sight, hearing, and so forth) – which lead to that impression. A possible starting point for organizing the writing is this outline:

I. Introduction which contains a thesis which states the main impression and lists the major factors that lead to it. It also uses a college level strategy, tells how the subject came up, and names the audience who can benefit from knowing the information.

II. Body

A. First logical focus

B. Second logical focus …

III. Conclusion